For millions of passionate readers, the tale of Harry Potter
has resonated deeply. Academics are no different, but because of their scholarly
training, they often find meanings in the four books that the rest of us miss.
For Philip Nel of Kansas State University, the Potter series can be seen
as "political novels that critique racism and racial superiority." (Recall that
pureblood Draco Malfoy insults Hermione by calling her a "mudblood," meaning
she has Muggle, or non-magic, blood.)

Nel recently published the
first book-length academic study of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling's HarryPotter Novels: A Reader's Guide (Continuum, $9.95). The paperback examines
Rowling's life and literary influences, and analyzes the series' themes. He notes
that her mother's multiple sclerosis, from which she died at 45, would influence
Rowling's portrayal of the admirable Professor Lupin in third book Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban, who is shunned for being a werewolf. (Lupus is
the Latin word for wolf, as well as the name of an autoimmune disease that is
similar to MS.)

For future generations of children and academics, Nel predicts
Rowling's work "will be part of the canon, like C.S. Lewis and Dr. Seuss." He
will teach a class this spring that will read the Potter series in addition
to novels such as Thomas Hughes' 1857 English tale, Tom Brown's Schooldays.

According to Nel, Rowling, who worked for Amnesty International,
evokes her social activism through Hermione's passion for oppressed elves. (She
creates S.P.E.W., her Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, in the fourth
book.)

And Rowling clearly has some qualms about "official branches
of power," says Nel, to judge by the name of the weak Minister for Magic, Cornelius
Fudge, who appears in the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

"English professors love big ideas and clever wordplay,"
Nel says.

And he's not alone.

At the Modern Language Association convention to be held
in December in New Orleans, there will be a panel titled "The Politics and Poetics
of Harry Potter." Among the papers presented:

"We wanted to take a look at the books both as literature
and as a cultural phenomenon," says moderator Dan Hade of Pennsylvania State
University.

Karin E. Westman, also of Kansas State, is presenting the
"Specters of Thatcherism" paper. Although the series often is reviewed as fantasy,
Westman sees real-life issues affecting modern-day England, such as hooliganism
(think Quidditch World Cup) and the difficulty of forming a multicultural society.

Lana Whited of Ferrum College has edited the tentatively
titled HarryPotter and the Ivory Tower. Among the topics explored:
Harry as a Moses-like figure. Both possessing a special destiny, they are found
bundled up as infants.

The Potter books are "kids books in the same way
that TheLittle Prince is a kids book or Peter Pan
or Grimms' Fairy Tales," says Gail Grynbaum, a Jungian psychologist who
published an essay about Potter in the San Francisco Jung Institute Library
Journal.

She believes that the solitary Harry has universal appeal.
"The orphan archetype speaks to the loneliness in all of us ... that sense of
being separate."